umm, weed right?

chocolatepop 8/18/2010, 11:25 pm

To yank, or not to yank, that is the question...

I dont mine some wild stuff in my garden, but what is this?

umm, weed right? Img_8336

Chopper 8/19/2010, 12:48 am

I would pull it out before it starts kicking out seeds. I am not sentimental about my beds.

ander217 8/19/2010, 5:28 am

It's a velvetleaf. It's a noxious weed, and get rid of it before it seeds.

We used to get them in our soybean fields when I was a kid.

chocolatepop 8/20/2010, 11:30 am

Okee dokee! Off to pluck!

I love you guys!

Aub 8/20/2010, 1:32 pm

We have one of those growing in our dirt pile. The kids love it because it's so soft!

chocolatepop 8/20/2010, 2:36 pm

You are so right! I truely was velvety soft!

ander217 8/21/2010, 10:19 pm

Aub and Chocolatepop, velvetleaf is very invasive, and the roots put out something which inhibit growth of certain surrounding plants. It is a real bane to farmers and a lot of money is spent each year trying to control it.

It is on the list of noxious weeds for both the federal government and state of Illinois. That means you should destroy it if found on your property, and any large infestations should be reported to your local state agronomist. In some areas one can be fined for failing to control noxious weeds on one's property.

Here is a link to the IL regulation stating it is your duty to destroy it.

http://www.agr.state.il.us/Laws/Regs/8iac220.pdf

This one may look pretty, but trust me, it does not look beautiful to anyone who has tried to eradicate it from field crops.

chocolatepop 8/22/2010, 12:54 am

WOW, I didnt realize it was so envasive! I plucked that one, and a few smaller ones also. I had never seen them before!

Aub 8/22/2010, 12:55 am

Well... Good to know! Living in a farm community, I guess I had better get rid of that pretty quick. Thanks for the info.

Garden Angel 8/22/2010, 12:44 pm

That is so interesting and one of the things I love about this board is all the knowledge and experience that is shared here! that weed almost looked like a hollyhock and the heads looked like a hollyhock flower head. Weeds often look like something else and it is uncanny how they often plant themselves by what they look like, personally I think they do it on purpose ! ha.

ander217 8/23/2010, 9:25 am

You are so right, Garden Angel.

Weeds - you can't trust any of 'em!

Don't get my husband started on morning glories. I once mentioned I thought they would be pretty planted next to our stone retaining wall, and he nearly came unglued. He said if I had spent hours in the bean field, stopping the combine, getting off, and sawing through their heavy vines which bound up his combine reel, I wouldn't even dream of planting them on purpose. He also diligently pulls every lamb's quarter that sprouts in the garden, whereas my great-grandmother cultivated them on purpose for greens.

One man's weed is another man's lunch, except when it comes to noxious weeds. Those must go.

Sponsored content

umm, weed right?

umm, weed right?

Re: umm, weed right?

Noxious weed

Re: umm, weed right?

Re: umm, weed right?

Re: umm, weed right?

Noxious weeds

Re: umm, weed right?

Re: umm, weed right?

Re: umm, weed right?

Sneaky weeds

Re: umm, weed right?


	Hello Guest! Welcome to the official Square Foot Gardening Forum. There's lots to learn here by reading as a guest. However, if you become a member (it's free, ad free and spam-free) you'll have access to our large vermiculite databases, our seed exchange spreadsheets, Mel's Mix calculator, and many more members' pictures in the Gallery. Enjoy.